This Is Life Now
by xXBalorBabeXx
Summary: Could things have been different with the group if different decisions were made? Or is what was done is what set things in stone? (Set in season 2)


_**Two months ago…**_

" _Hey… why the look on your face?" Shane responded after walking into one of the tents at the Atlanta camp, 15 year old Harper taking a few seconds to compose herself._

" _I have a feeling that you lied… when you said that my dad is dead, I can't get that damn feeling to let go." Harper explained, the redhead staring right at Shane as she spoke and Shane realising whatever was left of her innocence was long gone._

" _Harper, it's not easy to accept the loss of a family member-" Shane responded, Harper turning furious._

" _Stop with that, you condescending bastard! You want to know about loss?! My biological mother died when I was 12, my stepfather who raised me like his own took his own life! Before you start up again, I was damn happy to be rid of him because he didn't see me as his kid after the accident and completely lost it, slapping me around whenever he felt like I fucked up! And then Dad and Mom took me in, treated me like I had been their child from the start! You don't get to rip my family apart by telling me that my father is dead and sleeping with my mom!" Harper yelled, Shane realising that she had seen him and Lori in the woods._

" _I wish they had let you go into the damn foster care system!" Shane responded before he could control himself, Harper's right hand cracking hard across Shane's face and him stumbling back._

" _Well too damn bad, Officer Walsh. You didn't get what you wanted." Harper replied coldly before Shane left, thinking that she'd calm down._

 _But after a while, the unsettling feeling crept in and he went to the tent… the blankets on the cot were tucked in around the edges but not tightly and Shane walked over._

" _Harper… look, I really shouldn't have said what I said to you earlier. All you ever wanted after everything fell apart for you was to feel safe again…" Shane responded._

 _But he trailed off when he realised that something wasn't right… Harper wasn't snoring and anyone who was stood close enough to her when she slept could hear the faint noises._

" _Harper, pretending to be asleep won't…" Shane replied as he pulled the blankets back… only to see that on the cot was a pillow and clothes vaguely resembling a human form as Lori ran in._

" _Where is she?! Shane, where's my little girl?!" Lori responded, absolutely panicked._

 _Shane had no idea how to tell her about what had happened earlier but he knew he had to..._

 **Present time,** _ **Shane's Perspective…**_

It had to be done… for their safety.

But the looks on their faces, each and every one of them are replaying in my mind.

Especially when we all saw little Sophia… Carol just wanted to hold her little girl.

But her little girl was long gone and we all knew it.

I walk up the steps that lead into the farmhouse… only to stop when I heard a few sniffles and turn, expecting to see Carol.

But it's Harper, her jean clad legs tucked to her and head resting on the wooden fence surrounding the porch as the edges of the white tank top that Maggie had given her fluttered in the breeze… she and I have barely spoken since the fight at the Atlanta camp.

"Harper-" I started to say but jumped back when she looked at me, heartbreak, hatred and pain all mixed at once.

She had seen me bust open Hershel's barn, his family and little Sophia slaughtered… even though they weren't alive anymore.

"Hershel told you to get lost… why didn't you? They were gone but he didn't want to believe that… and had we gone looking for Sophia earlier, she might still be alive." Harper responded after I carefully approached her and crouched down, blue eyes narrowed at me. "And you clearly won't leave on your own…" She replied… and I realise where she's going with this.

"Harper, there's no use in telling him! It's gonna tear everything-" I responded, hoping to talk her out of it as we stood up and I grabbed her right wrist… only for her to spin around and kick her foot upwards, slamming it right into my jaw and me falling to the ground.

"The only thing it's gonna do is bite you in the ass, Shane! And you'll damn well deserve it!" Harper replied before the door opened and we saw Maggie, who glared right at me before turning to Harper.

"Go inside and put some ice on your foot, kid." Maggie responded, Harper going into the house.

 _ **Harper's Perspective…**_

"Harper?" I hear, jumping slightly and turning to see Dad. "It's okay, sweetheart, sit down… everyone else is calming down in their own ways, it's just us here." He responded, helping me to the couch and pulling my bloodstained shoe off before gently pulling off the sock.

"Kicked him in his damn face and I'd do it again!" I muttered, Dad standing up and walking into the kitchen… he returned with an ice pack and placed it on my bruised foot.

"When you and Shane are around each other, you turn tense and it worries me…" Dad responded as he lightly rubbed his left hand up and down my right shoulder. "Something happened, something bad?" He questioned gently.

I take a deep breath, deciding that it's now or never.

"Just before I left the Atlanta camp to come find you, I told Shane that I saw him and Mom in the woods… and we argued with each other and he… I don't even think he meant it but he said that he wished that you and Mom had just let me go into the foster care system." I explained, Dad pulling me into his arms and lightly rubbing his right hand up and down my back.

It's going to take time to trust Shane again… time I don't have and trust that he'll never be able to earn back.


End file.
